Mobo winners Empirical continue on the upward path their first lineup embarked on eight years ago. The long-running UK band remains enthusiastically devoted to remaking jazz for a contemporary audience, and Connection – recorded for the adventurous American label Cuneiform – is a break from the group’s recent pattern of genre-bridging collaborations with guests. Alto saxist Nathaniel Facey’s vocalised sound and respect for Ornette Coleman and John Coltrane, coupled with the bebop-disciplined fluency of vibraphonist Lewis Wright, are at the core of the quartet, and bassist Tom Farmer and drummer Shaney Forbes are as secure on Empirical-brand thematic intricacies as they are uninhibited in its collective freedoms. Wright’s Mind Over Mayhem is a hip mix of knotty composition and bop-fuelled swing and Lethe is a haunting fusion of luxurious vibes chords and soulful sax laments. The rhythmically layered, fitfully spiky Stay the Course, meanwhile, powerfully showcases Wright’s grace and Forbes’s inventively supportive drums. This fine set is a significant renewal of Empirical’s commitment to giving 1960s hard bop and free jazz (probably still their deepest loves) a 21st-century identity.
.jpg?w=600)
